Folks, the article below was culled from the All Africa website. It's not clear to me what is going on behind the scenes and I hope whatever OJ, Camara, Dibba, et al, resolve would be for the best interest of the country. The opposition is at crossroads and they need to approach this bait of Yahya's cautiously. This supposedly repeal of Decree 89, looks more like the silhouette of an optical illusion - it has the face of both a calm and a storm. This is the time for serious thinking and not a lot of loose canonry. We may have a lot of choices, but we better choose wisely.

Politicians who were banned by Decree 89 from all forms of political activity in the wake of the 1994 coup have swiftly reacted to the annulment of the decree, saying they are in the process of considering a common front against the ruling party.

They however, cautioned that there is no cause to jubilate their return to the political scene. The process, which the politicians said began with the petition to President Jammeh, urging him to quash the decree would be made public as soon as is feasible, The Independent was informed.

The politicians who were effectively silenced by the decree since the coup which brought an end to PPP rule noted that the president had no right to promulgate it in the first place.

Reacting to the much-awaited political development, Omar Jallow alias O.J. former minister of Agriculture in the deposed PPP regime, who has been waging a legal battle in the Supreme Court for its annulment told The Independent that as far as the three main political parties were concerned there was no cause for jubilation. He said the decree has wasted seven years of Gambians' lives, who have otherwise contributed immensely to the political and economic evolution of the country. He said that the banned politicians saw no legal or moral justification for the promulgation of the decree. For him, the decree was promulgated to make the political field more advantageous for the president so that he could succeed himself as civilian president. "Any law that is selective and discriminatory is unacceptable nationally because of our constitution and internationally due to the conventions that we are a party to" he argued.

Decree 89, O.J. emphasised was a "rough and jungle law" and therefore should not have been allowed to happen. He said the politicians affected by the ban had already started the process of consultation and cooperation, which began with the petition to the president on June 22, signed by the three political parties. He said the end of the decree was the result of local and international pressures on President Jammeh.

"It was incumbent on all the opposition forces in the country to start consultations and dialogue that would create a common platform for them to constitutionally dislodge the tyrant from the throne", he said.

Reacting to the 65-year age limit for pretenders to the presidency which disqualifies former President Jawara from contesting the presidency, O.J. said although he could not speak on the ex president's behalf, it was disturbing that the age limit for anyone wanting to contest for the presidency is in fact stated in the constitution. "One of the most dishonest acts of the AFPRC-APRC government was the rejection of the unanimous decision of Gambians through the National Consultative Committee that nobody under 40 years should be the president of the country" he averred .

According to him there was nowhere in the report where it was requested by Gambians that anybody above 65 years should not be eligible to contest for the presidency and that as a result constitutes a serious violation of the rights of all citizens of that age and above. He cited as examples that Nelson Mandela, Abdoulaye Wade, and Ronald Regan were above 65 when they assumed power. "Therefore there was no rationale behind such unlawful act".

O.J. acknowledged that "the period is too short for those affected by the decree to start campaigning for election but are nevertheless still fortunate that some of the structures of the PPP, NCP and GPP are still in place with the possibility and indication of a positive outcome.

"The reaction of the people during the past few days is encouraging as a lot of people who left the three banned political parties to join the ruling APRC party are now ready to come back to their own parties." He emphasised that the repeal of Decree 89 is the "beginning of the end of the APRC party."

Reacting to the view that the revival of banned political parties might affect the United Democratic Party, he said he could not speak on behalf of the other parties but noted that the revival of all the political parties would strengthen the UDP and other opposition parties and give Gambians a variety of options.

O.J. appealed to the former PPP supporters and sympathisers to return to the party so that in collaboration with other political parties they could bring back "sanity into Gambian politics."

The APRC, he claimed introduced the negative principles of terrorism, intimidation and harassment, which were alien to The Gambia's political configuration. "All hands", he said, "have to be on deck so that Gambians can have a system that guarantees every citizen the liberty, freedom, right and security that is expected in a civilized and humane country".

He charged that it was stupid for any one to suggest that the repeal of Decree 89 was a gesture or philanthropy from the president, as the abrogated decree had no place in the constitution and international conventions and could only be compared to apartheid South Africa. He said the heads of the banned parties had never been summoned to any of the "Kangaroo commissions of inquiry",

He believes that Decree 89 was a law used by "despotic regimes to stifle dissent" as the AFPRC-APRC junta was fully aware of the trust, confidence and popularity of the three banned parties.

The Gambia Peoples Party (GPP) leader, Assan Musa Camara said the parties affected by the ban were working on certain matters and would brief the press in due course.

Sheriff Mustapha Dibba, leader of the National Convention Party (NCP) in the same vein maintained that he would contact The Independent when he is ready with his work.


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